Requiem for a Semanticist

Language lovers lament! William Safire--viscount of vocabulary, sesquipedalian savant, warrior among wordsmiths--has passed on, kicked the bucket, expired--in a word, died.

Yes, Sloppists, the conservative pundit and weekly language columnist for the New York Times gave up the ghost on Sunday. And while we disagree with his right-of-center politics, we mourn the passing of a writer of wit and erudition.

Appropriately enough, the Solipsist found himself embroiled in a linguistic controversy of his own at work today. At issue were the subtle and not-so-subtle variations between "expertise," "competence" and "correctness." For the record, one can demonstrate competence (the possession of required skill, knowledge, qualification or capacity) without displaying expertise (the knowledge level associated with one who has special skill or knowledge in some particular field--with emphasis on the word 'special'); it is debatable, though, whether one can demonstrate expertise without displaying competence. And at any rate, it is redundant to request that someone display BOTH expertise AND competence.

Or maybe it isn't. And that was what was so engaging about Safire's linguistic commentary. While his prose style exuded authority, and he was facile (proceeding with ease) with puns and alliteration--it was he who, as a Nixon administration speechwriter, coined the phrase "nattering nabobs of negativism"--he welcomed commentary and reserved regular column space for members of the "Gotcha! Gang"--those stalwarts in his "Lexicographic Irregulars" who gleefully pounced on any misuse of grammar, punctuation, or usage. Safire was a true quibbler, and we suspect he derived great joy from mixing it up with like-minded nitpickers.

So grammarians of the world, unite! (Safire would LOVE the Marxist rhetoric.) Raise your drinking vessel of choice, and toast the memory of a man who would have enthusiastically discoursed upon the differences among glass, goblet, flagon, and stein. RIP, Mr. Safire.